Principles to Live By

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Peaceful Civil Disobedience

Fairness Trustworthiness Kindness
Patience Gentleness Knowledge
Discipline Compassion Integrity

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

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1. Fairness
Free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism--Marked by impartiality and honesty, justice, and freedom from improper influence

Playing by the rules of the game. Treating others as you would want to be treated. Providing equal opportunity for everyone. Being sensitive to others' needs.

"Government should stop trying to make life fair for its 'subjects.' Fairness is not an institutional value that can be dictated from on high; it is a personal value that we are to demonstrate to one another."
Ron Strom

Synonyms:
candid, dispassionate, equal, equitable, impartial, impersonal, indifferent, just, nondiscriminatory, nonpartisan, objective, square, unbiased, uncolored, undistinctive, unprejudiced, unprepossessed

Related Words:
detached, disinterested; balanced, rational, reasonable, sane; open-minded, straight

Contrasted Words:
biased, inequitable, partial, partisan, prejudiced, prepossessed, unjust

Antonyms:
unfair

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2. Trustworthiness

Worthy of trust or confidence

Trustworthiness is being honest, telling the truth, keeping promises, and being loyal so people can trust you. Trustworthy people don't lie, cheat or steal. They have integrity and the moral courage to do the right thing and to stand up for their beliefs even when it is difficult to do so.

"Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."
Author Unknown.

Synonyms:
dependable, secure, tried and true, trusty

Related Words:
truthful, veracious; honest, scrupulous, upright

Contrasted Words:
deceitful; dishonest

Antonyms:
untrustworthy

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3. Kindness
Showing or having a gentle considerate nature

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes the ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate."
Albert Schweitzer

Synonyms:
courtesy, dispensation, indulgence, service, good-hearted, kindly

Related Words:
altruistic, benevolent, charitable, eleemosynary, humane, humanitarian, openhearted, philanthropic, propitious; compassionate, kindhearted, responsive, sympathetic, tender, warm, warmhearted; clement, forbearing, indulgent, lenient, merciful, tolerant; affable, amiable, cordial, genial, good-humored, good-natured, good-tempered, sweet-tempered; complaisant, obliging; gentle, good

Contrasted Words:
cruel, fell, fierce, inhuman, savage; hard, harsh, rough; grim, implacable, merciless, unrelenting

Antonyms:
unkind

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4. Patience
Calmness, self-control, and the willingness and ability to tolerate delay despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity. The capacity to endure hardship or inconvenience without complaint.

"Our patience will achieve more than our force"
Edmund Burke

Synonyms:
forbearance, longanimity, long-suffering, patientness, resignation, uncomplainingness

Related Word:
composure, cool, equanimity, impeturbability, self-control; endurance, sufferance, suffering, tolerance, toleration; nonresistance, passiveness, passivity, submission, submissiveness

Contrasted Words:
fretfulness; restiveness, restlessness; hastiness; rebellion, resistance

Antonyms:
impatience

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5. Gentleness
Considerate or kindly in disposition--Amiable and tender--Free from harshness, sternness, or violence--Having a pleasant easygoing nature

"Gentleness is the antidote for cruelty."
Phaedrus

Synonyms:
affable, amiable, genial

Related Words:
kind, pleasant, pleasing, tender; agreeable, benign, mild; compassionate, kindly, softhearted, sympathetic, warmhearted

Contrasted Words:
belligerent, cantankerous, contentious, ill-natured, petty, quarrelsome; aggressive, demanding, overbearing

Antonyms:
harsh, stern

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6. Knowledge

Knowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or information gained in the form of experience or learning. Knowledge is distinct from simple information. Both knowledge and information consist of true statements, but knowledge is information that has a purpose or use. We can never have too much knowledge.



'It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance."

Thomas Sowell

"We're all ignorant. Just on different subjects."

Will Rogers

Synonyms:
learning, scholarship, science, information, lore, science, wisdom

Antonyms:
ignorance

Related Words:
advice, intelligence, data, evidence, facts, input

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7. Discipline

Orderly conduct or pattern of behavior that molds or perfects the mental faculties and moral character.

Discipline is the rejection of instant gratification in favor of something better. It is the giving up of instant pleasure and satisfaction for a higher goal.

It is the ability of the individual to stick to actions, thoughts, and behavior, which lead to improvement and success.

"Half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that's the important half, for without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with luck."
Carl Zuckmeyer

Synonyms:
self-command, self-control, self-discipline, self-government, self-mastery, self-restraint, willpower

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8. Compassion

Sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it

"Compassion and love are not mere luxuries. As the source both of inner and external peace, they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species."
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

Synonyms:
commiseration, empathy

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9. Integrity

Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code

Integrity is a guideline, a benchmark, a point of reference that is used to make decisions that rely on truth and honesty. All things are related to this point of reference and judged accordingly. To maintain integrity, you must remember to refer to truth and honesty in ALL decisions, thoughts and actions.

Integrity is similar to a skill. A qualified carpenter must endure years of training, practice and exposure to building materials and circumstances that call for his talent. Integrity must also endure years of practice and exposure for integrity is NOT necessarily inherent within a person's personality. Instead, integrity is a trait that is taught and learned over an entire lifetime

"Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity."
W. Clement Stone

Synonyms:
honestness, honor, honorableness, incorruption